The St. Johns herald., 1887-08-18


 to do what no other corporation in America has ever attempted.
 The gentlemen at its head are the first to gravely assert that they can make oil and water assimilate. When they succeed we fear that it will only be the old story of peace existing between the lion and the lamb, but only when the latter was within the stomach of the king of beasts.
 The design of the promoters is to control all of the ranges and cat tie in this broad land and at the same time own the packing estab- lishments which will use their pro- ducts. These two industries are in a sense inimical to each other, for the reason that the lower the price os range cattle the larger the pro fit to the packers. No other cor poration in the country attempts to control both the production and the sale of the manufactured arti- cle.
 For instance, the Standard Oil Company does not control the oil wells. It owns the pipe lines in which the oil is stored and the re- fneries where it is refined. Thus, being practically the only buyers, it can dictate prices and does con- trol the market, but only with the view of making money for itself and not to help the producers. The same with the Cotton Seed Oil Trust. It does not wish to own the fields where the cotton is grown. It controls the dozen mills which are almost the sole buyers of cotton seed, and consequently can dictate what price it will pay. The cotton seed producer of the present day does not seem to be pleased. The Whiskey Trust is the same. It controls fifty or more large distille- ries, and consequently can prevent an overproduction, while the Rub Der Trust does not make any pre- tense of controlling the rubber pro- duction Tn South America, but the half dozen mills in the country have combined because, being the sole purchasers of rubber by having only one purchasing agent, they can avoid competition and are en- abled to purchase the raw material at lower rate than at present, while at the same time they can keep up the price of the manufac- tured articles and increase their own profit.
 The cattle trust goes further than this and aims, as already stated, to control all the range cattle in the United States as we'll as the large packing houses. In this they will fail. If it was proposed to make a trust of the packing houses alone that could be easily done, and it would be successful, but the big | four already have such a thorough | understanding that to all intents and purposes a complete pool is now in existence which would not | be strengthened one iota by the addition of the word trust. They | have come to this understanding solely because being the large pur- chasers of beef they, by concerted action, need not enter into compe- tition with each other, but can buy at bottom figures. Can any req sonable man expect that they will give up the advantage which they now enjoy in being able to regulate the price of beef unless they are to gain greater advantages else where?
 No, stockmen, rest assured that thep will not give up their present profit of at least fifteen dollars per head unless they can see a greater one in the near future. The mo- nopoly is too powerful and such range men as enter the trust will no